Immediate and delayed life history effects caused by food deprivation early in life in a short‐lived lizard

Detailed studies of the mechanisms driving life history effects of food availability are of prime importance to understand the evolution of phenotypic plasticity and the capacity of organisms to produce better adapted phenotypes. Food availability may influence life history trajectories through three nonexclusive mechanisms: (i) immediate and long‐lasting effects on individual quality, and indirect delayed effects on (ii) intracohort and (iii) intercohort interactions. Using the common lizard (Zootoca vivipara), we tested whether a food deprivation during the two‐first months of life influence life history (growth, survival, reproduction) and performance traits (immunocompetence, locomotor performances) until adulthood. We investigated the underlying mechanisms and their possible interactions by manipulating jointly food availability in a birth cohort and in cohorts of older conspecifics. Food deprivation had direct immediate negative effects on growth but positive long‐lasting effects on immunocompetence. Food deprivation had also indirect delayed effects on growth, body size, early survival and reproduction mediated by an interaction between its direct effects on individual quality and its delayed effects on the intensity of intercohort social interactions combined with density dependence on body size. These results demonstrate that interactions between direct and socially mediated effects of past environments influence life history evolution in size‐structured and stage‐structured populations.     

New mechanistic insights into pre‐protein transport across the second outermost plastid membrane of diatoms

Chromalveolates like the diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum arose through the uptake of a red alga by a phagotrophic protist, a process termed secondary endosymbiosis. In consequence, the plastids are surrounded by two additional membranes compared with primary plastids. This plastid morphology poses additional barriers for plastid‐destined proteins, which are mostly nucleus‐encoded. Recent investigations have focused on the postulated translocon of the second outermost membrane (periplastidal membrane, PPM). These studies identified a symbiont‐specific ERAD (endoplasmic reticulum‐associated degradation)‐like machinery (SELMA), which has been implicated in plastid pre‐protein import. Despite this recent progress, key factors for protein transport via SELMA are still unknown. As SELMA substrates presumably undergo ubiquitination, a corresponding ubiquitin ligase and an enzyme for the subsequent removal of ubiquitin need to reside in the space between the second and third membrane (periplastidal compartment, PPC). Here we characterize two proteins fulfilling these criteria. We show that ptE3P (P. t ricornutumE3 enzyme of the P PC), the ubiquitin ligase, and ptDUP (P. t ricornutumd e‐u biquitinating enzyme of the P PC), the de‐ubiquitinase, localize to the PPM and PPC, respectively. In addition, we demonstrate their retained functionality by in vitro data.     

Xiamycin,a pentacyclic indolosesquiterpene with selective anti-HIV activity from a bacterial mangrove endophyte

A novel pentacyclic indolosesquiterpene, named xiamycin (1), and its methyl ester (2) have been obtained from Streptomyces sp. GT2002/1503, an endophyte from the mangrove plant Bruguiera gymnorrhiza. The structures were established by 1D and 2D NMR, MS, and X-ray crystallography, and the absolute configuration of 1 was elucidated by the modified Mosher method. Compound 1 exhibits selective anti-HIV activity; it specifically blocks R5 but has no effects on X4 tropic HIV-1 infection. In a panel of cytotoxicity assays, compound 2 showed to be more potent (geometric mean IC₅₀ = 10.13 μM) compared to compound 1 (geometric mean IC₅₀ >30 μM), with antitumor potency being generally less pronounced. Xiamycin represents one of the first examples of indolosesquiterpenes isolated from prokaryotes.     

Rejecting strictly allopatric speciation on a continental island: prolonged postdivergence gene flow between Taiwan (Leucodioptron taewanus,Passeriformes Timaliidae) and Chinese (L. canorum canorum) hwameis

Allopatry is conventionally considered the geographical mode of speciation for continental island organisms. However, strictly allopatric speciation models that assume the lack of postdivergence gene flow seem oversimplified given the recurrence of land bridges during glacial periods since the late Pliocene. Here, to evaluate whether a continental island endemic, the Taiwan hwamei (Leucodioptron taewanus, Passeriformes Timaliidae) speciated in strict allopatry, we used weighted‐regression‐based approximate Bayesian computation (ABC) to analyse the genetic polymorphism of 18 neutral nuclear loci (total length: 8500 bp) in Taiwan hwamei and its continental sister species, the Chinese hwamei (L. canorum canorum). The nonallopatry model was found to fit better with observed genetic polymorphism of the two hwamei species (posterior possibility = 0.82). We also recovered unambiguous signals of nontrivial bidirectional postdivergence gene flow (N_em » 1) between Chinese hwamei and Taiwan hwamei until 0.5 Ma. Divergence time was estimated to be 3.5 to 2 million years earlier than that estimated from mitochondrial cytochrome b sequences. Finally, using the inferred nonallopatry model to simulate genetic variation at 24 nuclear genes examined showed that the adiponectin receptor 1 gene may be under divergent adaptation. Our findings imply that the role of geographical barrier may be less prominent for the speciation of continental island endemics, and suggest a shift in speciation studies from simply correlating geographical barrier and genetic divergence to examining factors that facilitate and maintain divergence, e.g. differential selection and sexual selection, especially in the face of interpopulation gene flow.     

家蝇幼虫肠道细菌对其取食选择性和生长发育的影响

目的探究家蝇幼虫肠道细菌对幼虫取食与发育的影响,进而明确肠道细菌的部分功能。方法取3日龄家蝇幼虫,采用细菌传统分离法分离纯化其肠道内可培养细菌并进行分子鉴定,利用这些肠道细菌进行家蝇幼虫爬行选择实验,测定幼虫对不同细菌的选择性;利用这些肠道细菌发酵液与麦麸混合饲养家蝇幼虫,记录家蝇幼虫发育过程中的生物学参数,分别以LB培养原液与麦麸混合饲养的幼虫为阴性对照,以无菌水与麦麸混合饲养的幼虫为空白对照。结果在家蝇幼虫肠道中共分离出9个属10种细菌,分别为霍氏肠杆菌(Enterobacter hormaechei)、肺炎克雷伯菌(Klebsiella pneumoniae)、铜绿假单胞菌(Pseudomonas aeruginosa)、别雷斯不动杆菌(Acinetobacter bereziniae)、斯氏普罗威登斯菌(Providencia stuartii)、阴沟肠杆菌(Enterobacter cloacae)、乳酸乳球菌(Lactococcus lactis)、纺锤形赖氨酸芽胞杆菌(Lysinibacillus fusiformis)、居幼虫普罗威登斯菌(Providencia vermicola)和沙福芽胞杆菌(Bacillus safensis)。其中,除铜绿假单胞菌和斯氏普罗威登斯菌外,其余8种细菌对幼虫有显著吸引作用;除铜绿假单胞菌对家蝇生长有明显抑制作用以外,其余9种细菌对家蝇幼虫生长均有一定的促进作用,其中霍氏肠杆菌和别雷斯不动杆菌对其生长有显著促进作用。结论明确了家蝇幼虫肠道细菌的组成,确定了8种家蝇幼虫肠道细菌对其取食有吸引作用,9种细菌对其生长发育有促进作用。霍氏肠杆菌和别雷斯不动杆菌可作为添加剂用于家蝇的规模化饲养,以提高养殖效率。铜绿假单胞菌可作为生长抑制剂用于家蝇幼虫的防治。     

马铃薯瓢虫与茄二十八星瓢虫SCAR标记的建立及应用

为了探索快速鉴定马铃薯瓢虫Henosepilachna vigintioctomaculata(Motschulsky)和茄二十八星瓢虫Henosepilachna vigintioctopunctata(Fabricius)的分子生物学方法,本研究在随机扩增多态性DNA(random amplified polymorphic DNA,RAPD)的基础上,分别设计了可以鉴别两个物种的序列特征扩增区域(sequence characterized amplified regions,SCAR)标记。从随机合成的60条引物中筛选出来2条特异性引物(分别为OPI-6和OPJ-15),引物OPI-6在马铃薯瓢虫中扩增出约750 bp的特异性条带,引物OPJ-15在茄二十八星中扩增出约750 bp的特异性条带,根据测序结果设计了两对SCAR引物对筛选结果进行验证,发现根据OPI-6的测序结果所设计的SCAR引物(OPI-6 test)仅能在马铃薯瓢虫中扩增出645 bp的条带,而根据OPJ-15的测序结果所设计的SCAR引物(OPJ-15 test)仅能在茄二十八星瓢虫中扩增出436 bp的条带。这两对SCAR引物能够准确、稳定且快速地区分马铃薯瓢虫与茄二十八星瓢虫,对这两种害虫的精准防控具有重要意义。     

热稳定性丙酮酸:铁氧还蛋白氧化还原酶异源表达及其在乙酰辅酶A合成中的应用 *

乙酰辅酶A被广泛应用到生物医学研究中,使用TPP代替昂贵的ATP为辅因子合成乙酰辅酶A受到广泛关注.新阿波罗栖热袍菌(Thermotoga neapolitana)来源的丙酮酸:铁氧还蛋白氧化还原酶(TnPFOR)在大肠杆菌中进行了重组表达,分析了其酶学特性,并探讨了利用嗜热酶(TnPFOR)酶法合成乙酰辅酶A.采用pET-20b(+)载体,将新阿波罗栖热袍菌来源的四亚基组成的嗜热酶(TnPFOR)在大肠杆菌中进行异源表达;通过热处理和阴离子交换层析法纯化嗜热酶(TnPFOR);重组表达的嗜热酶(TnPFOR)的最适反应温度和pH分别为90℃和6.5,TnPFOR在90℃下孵育1h时保留了50%活性.利用嗜热酶(TnPFOR),以TPP为辅酶合成了乙酰辅酶A,并探讨了不同温度,丙酮酸钠底物浓度和反应时间对乙酰辅酶A合成的影响.得到的优化条件为:最适反应温度为90℃,丙酮酸钠浓度为1.5mmol/L,反应时间为2min.